Jamie Foxx Talks About Why His Controversial Comedy ALL-STAR WEEKEND With Robert Downey Jr. Is Still Shelved

Have you ever heard of the NBA comedy All-Star Weekend that was filmed six years ago and features a crazy good cast that includes Jamie Foxx, Jeremy Piven, Robert Downey Jr., Eva Longoria, Gerard Butler, and Benicio Del Toro? Of course you haven’t, because you’d remember a movie with that kind of star power, and because it’s been shelved for the past several years. Filmed back in 2016, the comedy was targeted for release around the time of the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, and again the following season. But still, we’ve never heard of it.

Luckily, the film’s star, comedian and Oscar-winner, Jamie Foxx sat down with Cinema Blend and chatted about the movie, and why he thinks it has stayed unreleased, saying:

“Man, it’s been tough, with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy, man. We’re trying to break open those sensitive corners where people go back to laughing again. And that’s why I think, even in this film, which is great is (that) the one thing we kept hearing in the screenings was how much people were laughing. So, hopefully we’ll keep them laughing and run them into All-Star Weekend, because we were definitely going for it.”

Foxx dug into one of the boundary-pushing aspects of the film when he appeared as a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience in 2017. He revealed that he’d convinced Robert Downey Jr. to play a Mexican character. In his explanation, he referenced back to Downey wearing blackface makeup in Tropic Thunder, a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination. On the podcast, Foxx explained:

“We all play different characters. I play a white, racist cop. I’ll show it to you. I’ll grab the thing and show it to you. Robert Downey Jr. plays a Mexican. I called Robert and I said, ‘Listen, I need you to play a Mexican.’ He said, ‘Dude, here’s the deal. Sure. Fuck it. Sure. Why not? Fuck it. Sure. Of course. Mexican. Whatever.’”

Will we ever see this movie? There’s a chance that a streaming service may take a chance on it, seeing as how the cast is so solid. I know they’d get people to watch it. But depending on how offensive the story and dialogue really gets, I suppose that will be the ultimate deciding factor. I’d watch it just to see what the fuss is about! Would you check it out?